According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau's (NICB) annual "Hot Wheels" report, 1.2 million motor vehicles were stolen in 2006, meaning a vehicle is stolen every 26.4 seconds.
While those figures indicate a 3.5 percent drop from last year's numbers — and the third annual decrease in a row — it still adds up to some big losses for insurance companies. The NICB's report stated that if each vehicle loss is estimated at $6,649, vehicle-value amounts could be as high as $8 billion alone in 2006.
As it did in 2005, California's vehicle theft rate once again ranked highest in the nation. In fact, it downright dominated the other 49 states. For instance, while California reported more than 242,000 stolen cars last year, the next top-ranking states — Texas, Florida, and Arizona –combined for a total of 226,000 stolen cars between the three of them. But times could be changing for the Golden State; its car thefts dropped by almost six percent when compared to 2005′s figures.
"The decrease in vehicle thefts is certainly welcome news to law enforcement, the insurance industry and vehicle owners nationwide," said Robert M. Bryant, NICB's president and CEO, in a release. "At NICB, we have been providing the latest technology in auto theft detection and recovery equipment to law enforcement agencies from California to Florida."
The NICB also examined several fraud schemes it says contributes to the high rates of theft, especially in those states on the border of Canada and Mexico. They reported several schemes, such as exporting cars to other countries, owner give-ups in which a false theft report is made in order to collect insurance proceeds, and chop shops, as contributing to the problem.
For 2006, the most stolen vehicles* in the nation were:
1. 1995 Honda Civic
2. 1991 Honda Accord
3. 1989 Toyota Camry
4. 1997 Ford F-150 Series Pickup
5. 2005 Dodge Ram Pickup
6. 1994 Chevrolet C/K 1500 Pickup
7. 1994 Nissan Sentra
8. 1994 Dodge Caravan
9. 1994 Saturn SL
10. 1990 Acura Integra
* This report reflects only stolen vehicle data reported to National Crime Information Center in 2006. No further filtering of information is conducted, i.e., determining the total number of a particular make and model currently registered in the U.S. for comparison purposes.
More information is available at www.nicb.org.
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